The officer says the 38-year-old
ignored orders to drop his gun
and pointed it at the policeman

By Pat Omandam
and Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

A Hawaii County police officer last night shot and killed a 38-year-old Puna man who refused to follow the officer's orders to drop a handgun, according to police.

The gunman, Jon Webster Pavao, died in Hilo Hospital at 8:10 p.m., Big Island police Capt. Morton A. Carter said.

Pavao ignored the officer's repeated orders to drop the handgun and instead pointed the weapon at him, Carter said.

The patrolman fired twice, striking Pavao in the upper left chest with both rounds.

A police spokesman said Pavao did not fire his weapon; the officer was not injured.

Hospital officials confirmed the cause of Pavao's death was injuries from gunshot wounds.

Results of an autopsy were expected this afternoon.

Carter said the officer, an eight-year veteran, was responding to a 911 emergency call for help that came into police central dispatch at 7:26 p.m. The caller then hung up the phone.

An officer sent to a Lilikoi Street address in the Ainaloa area of Puna was immediately confronted by Pavao, who was armed with a handgun.

"The officer told him several times: 'Drop the gun. Drop the gun or I'm going to fire,'" said Hawaii County Police spokesman Buck Donham. "Rather than dropping the gun, the guy turned around and aimed it directly at him, and the policeman opened fire."

Carter said investigators later learned a domestic dispute led to the 911 call. Pavao lived at the Lilikoi Street address, police said.

The unnamed officer has been placed on leave, and both the Internal Affairs and Homicide divisions are investigating.

There have been two other cases involving civilians killed by Hilo police officers in the past three years.

Both cases involved domestic disputes. One officer in each of those cases was wounded before other officers opened fire and killed the gunmen, Donham said. Both officers wounded in those shootings wore bulletproof vests and survived. They are back on the police force. The officers who shot the gunmen were found to have acted appropriately by Internal Affairs in both cases.

The gunmen killed in the previous two shootings were found to be under the influence of alcohol.